The Sponsors are the individuals not only responsible for funding the game and setting the expectations; they are also the ones that must be satisfied that the game met their objectives. Facilitators should be in constant contact with the Sponsors throughout the exercise to ensure they are pleased with the direction of the game.
Published in Chapter:
Battle for Value: Wargaming for Business, Non-Profit, and Government Strategy Development
Micah May (New York Public Library, USA) and Timothy Smith (Competitive Simulations, Inc., USA)
Copyright: © 2012
|Pages: 20
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0149-9.ch029
Abstract
A wargame is competitive simulation used to build and test strategy. Wargames have been used by military leaders throughout history, notably by the Persians and Napoleon (Figure 1), and more recently by the U.S. when planning its invasion of Iraq. They have also been used effectively by business executives, leaders in government agencies, and even non-profits. They can be powerful tools to generate creative ideas, surface and resolve taboo issues, anticipate competitive responses, identify and prioritize stakeholder needs, assess likely market acceptance of a product or service, or to build and test a strategic plan. In following chapter, the authors (1) define what a wargame is and briefly introduce the reader to the concept and history of wargaming, (2) explain why wargaming is valuable and when it can be used most fruitfully, and finally (3) describe how to run a wargame, spanning from the relatively simple to the more complex. As Karl Von Clausewitz so eloquently put it, “everything in war is simple; but the simplest thing is difficult...”